Mini DV transfer to 24"iMac (M1 2021) macOS Monterey 12.5.1

I want to transfer a box full of Mini DD tapes to my computer to edit and store safely. I have a Sony DCR-HC52 mini DV camera. I have connected it to the camera with a camera cable and two adaptors - a 400 to 800 adaptor cable from the camera, a Thunderbolt 3 to Thunderbolt 2 adaptor, then another adaptor USB3 into the computer.

The tapes are playing on the camera screen, but the camera is not registering in iMovie and Quicktime does not appear to have any import facility.

I have been frustrated by having to get the different adaptors as each time I got one I thought that was all I needed!

I bought Vidbox video conversion device to transfer from a Sony Video8 camera and they just dropped onto my desktop via the software package.

I am not very bright and am confused by these apparent difficulties. Can anyone explain to me in simple terms what I have to do to capture these (to me) priceless tapes on my iMac please?

David

iMac 21.5″, 10.13

Posted on Nov 26, 2022 9:13 PM

Top-ranking reply

MartinR

Level 7

24,576 points

Posted on Nov 27, 2022 11:10 AM

You also need the Apple Thunderbolt-to-Firewire adapter.

The entire connection chain needs to look like this:

Thunderbolt port on your Mac <-> Thunderbolt 3 to Thunderbolt 2 adapter <-> Thunderbolt to Firewire adapter <-> 9-pin firewire 800 to 4-pin firewire 400 cable <-> Sony DCR-HC52 mini DV camera

When all is connected and your camera is turned on, you will not see a camera icon on your Mac desktop. The way to check if your Mac "sees" the miniDV camcorder is to look in Apple > About This Mac > System Report > Hardware > Thunderbolt. The Tunderbolt to Firewire adapter should show up there as well as your camcorder. If you see them there, QuickTime and iMovie should be able to capture the video.

Note: Vidbox is a USB2 device. Your Sony DCR-HC52 does not use USB; it uses Firewire. But you could (theoretically, at least) use the Vidbox with the analog video out of your miniDV camcorder ... but the video quality would be nowhere near as good as transferring via Firewire.

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Mini DV transfer to 24"iMac (M1 2021) macOS Monterey 12.5.1

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